Besides colorants or color pigments, effect pigments, such as metallic flakes, are widely used for producing coatings having desired appearance and aesthetic effects. The use of effect pigments in a coating can impart a differential light reflection effect, color changing effect upon varying viewing or illumination conditions, sparkle effect, coarseness, as well as the enhancement of depth perception in the coating. Aluminum flakes, a type of metallic flakes, are commonly used as effect pigments in coatings for automobile bodies and other articles. For repairing a previously coated article that has a coating comprising effect pigments, for example, an automotive body, it is necessary to choose the correct colorants or colorant combinations to match the color of that coated article as well as the correct effect pigments such as flakes to match both the color and appearance of that coated article.
There are needs for a method and a system to match color and appearance of coatings.